Friday, February 25, 2011

Finding Treasures

My young nieces and I snowshoed around the back forty at my parents Winterberry Farm yesterday. This was the first time, I think, that they were on snowshoes. They both walked well on their plastic shoes.

We made discoveries along the way. I showed them the rabbit tracks and the rabbit scat under the brambles. These would be Eastern cottontails and they seem to be everywhere here. They noticed a ridge pattern in the snow and wondered how it came to be. We snowshoed to the pond and saw a small area of open water along its edge. We saw huge turkey tracks.

Eastern cottontail scat among the brambles

We saw holes in the snow made by squirrels digging for acorns. Then we discovered the remains of a deer in the woods. Only the fur was left. We brought a sample back to show everyone. I broke off a twig from the spicebush to let them sniff the spice.

Remains of a deer in the woods

Back at the house my oldest niece talked excitedly about the snowshoe hike and the treasures (her word) that we found, especially the deer fur. This is what I like about snowshoeing - the pace is just right for finding treasures.